


What It's Like To Be Free

by Chocobo_Boy_Prompto



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: A happy ending for Vanitas, But it's semi-justifiable, Gen, I might edit this later but I like it like this for now, M/M, Oneshot, Sora is kind of like a big brother, Vanitas is OOC, Vanitas is technically a newborn Nobody
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-04
Updated: 2019-11-04
Packaged: 2021-01-22 22:04:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21309355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chocobo_Boy_Prompto/pseuds/Chocobo_Boy_Prompto
Summary: Vanitas wakes up in a strange land, but comes to discover he can't truely feel anything, only glimpses he can gather from previous memories. It's after a chat with Ventus and Sora when Vanitas finally feels happiness, for once in his life.
Relationships: Sora/Ventus (Implied)
Kudos: 19





	What It's Like To Be Free

Vanitas woke up, finding his gaze pointed at the ground and also noticed feintly below himself was a mystical blue glow, like some sort of aura surrounding him. But that was just it, he was awake, this didn’t happen to him the last time he was defeated. Honestly, he wasn’t sure what exactly happened, but it sure as hell wasn’t this.

“-Is where he is” said a voice oddly familiar to Vanitas. He heard a pair of gasps and one  _ very _ familiar Voice asked

“I-Is that him, Sora?” Sora gave some visual response, because Vanitas was unable to hear it. Another voice, the one from before, asked

“Do either of you know him?” To which another visual response was given, followed by a verbal one

“Yeah, he use to be our enemy, but now, now he looks… Dea-” The boy, Sora, was cut off with a sharp gasp, and he redirected his words towards the boy he was with

“Hey, it’s okay, Ventus, it couldn’t have been avoided, we tried to help him, but he chose what he thought was best, in the end, he did what made him happy”. Vanitas heard sniffles coming from the boy, Ventus, and his tearful response

“I wanted to do better for him…” The response faded gradually, killing any sense of joy in the room, or, was it? It didn’t look like the floor to any place he knew of, it seemed like a rocky road. Vanitas let himself reflect on those two that spoke, he found himself feeling anger, but not like he was currently mad about the things they did, but more like he was remembering the feeling of being mad at them, like he was sampling his own memories to get that feeling.

“Huh, that’s weird, is your friend deaf? Surely he should have heard us by now, but he seems more unresponsive than Dr. Finkelstein’s creations”. The end of the sentence was muttered more to himself than to Sora and Ventus. But before either could respond, Vanitas looked up at them, startling all of them, and stunning them into silence, in pure anticipation for what he was going to say or do. His eyes were heavy, causing them to appear to be half lidded. His jaw was somewhat slack, allowing them all to see into his mouth a bit. His first word was the name of the only person that mattered in that moment

“V-Ventus…” Vanitas looked as if he was under a trance in that moment, and Ventus took a step back, seemingly horrified at what he was seeing. Sora put a hand on his shoulder to calm the blonde boy down, but it did little. Vanitas noticed the third person. The person he thought he knew from somewhere, but this tall, lanky skeleton was one he knew he had never seen, but why was he so familiar. The skeleton moved away, noticing they were all having a moment, and bade them farewell

“I can see where I’m intruding, I’m glad I could be of service, I’ll be back in town if you need anything”. Sora looked up and nodded at the man, and the man walked away, leaving those two there with him. Sora looked at Vanitas, holding Ventus close to his chest, and asked

“Vanitas… Do you remember us?” And Vanitas nodded

“You’re the ones that weren’t broken” Vanitas said, voice devoid of any emotion. The comment made Ven cry, but for once, Vanitas intended no harm to the boy, it was true, wasn’t it? He lost after all, that was proof enough. And timidly, Ven poked his head out of Sora’s chest to ask

“A-are you mad?” The question caught him off guard, and Vanitas took a moment to reflect on it, currently, he wasn’t, he felt like he should be, but he wasn’t

“No… I don’t think I am”. Sora tilted his head in confusion 

“Whaddya mean?” Vanitas felt the instinct to jerk Sora around for a bit, but found that the desire to do that fleeted as soon as the images of the same had too

“I feel like I should be… But I’m not, in fact, I’m not sure I  _ feel _ much of anything anymore”. Vanitas said, his tone was strikingly neutral for the two to hear from him. Then, he asked “why am I here? I thought I’d be recompleted, along with Ventus”. Ventus shrugged his head and finally got away from Soras chest to actually talk

“M-maybe, maybe we’re too different to be one again”. If he were told that 11 years ago, Vanitas would be pissed, but he felt nothing… Maybe this was for the best, he could ‘exist’ as well as not feel pain and misery, he no longer needed to hurt his brother, the boy he had become, essentially, attached at the hip to. He could feel joy circulating through his being, but he knew it wasn’t his own, were his ‘brothers’ giving him this feeling?

“F-finally, no more pain, no more suffering… No disappearing, I’m free” he breathed out the sentence like he were told of some really good news, relief coursed through him, making him smile. Ventus, seeing the dark half of him smile, smiled too, and Sora was happy for both of them. Ventus could be his own entity, as could Vanitas, and Vanitas could exist, happy and free. They were all, for once, united in their happiness, even if it was a fleeting emotion for Vanitas, he could learn to savor the happiness he was denied for over a decade, he didn’t care that it wasn’t his own, all that mattered was that he borrowed it for that time. And maybe, if he borrowed this emotion so frequently, then just like he had with his body, maybe this would become his as well.


End file.
